othing demonstrates our straddling of two worlds-the spiritual and the material-better than our navjotes and weddings. We go from the solemnity of the ancient rites to high-spirited celebrations with food and wine; occasions to meet up with friends and family, a place to see and be seen. At the functions of the wealthy it is also an opportunity to bring out the family jewels from the family vaults; emeralds as big as rocks glitter and shine.
          The navjote, or initiation into the religion, takes place before puberty between the ages of seven and nine for both boys and girls. It is the first time that the child will wear the "armour of the religion": the sudrah, kusti, which should then be worn every day for the rest of his/her life. Zoroastrianism believes that children cannot tell the difference between right and wrong, and therefore cannot sin. Once children freely choose to be initiated, they become adults responsible for their own thoughts, words, deeds, which will determine the fate of their souls on judgment day.1
          The sudrah (shirt) to be worn next to the skin is made of white cotton, usually thin muslin, (white being a symbol of stainlessness and purity) to remind the wearer that his/her deeds must be as pure and spotless as the sacred shirt they are wearing. The sudrah is made up of two pieces of cloth sewn together on the sides; the two parts, the back and the front symbolic of the past and future, both related to each other through the present. In the front, over the chest is a small pocket (girehban). Called the pocket of righteousness, it is the symbolic collection place for the wearer's good words, good thoughts, good deeds.2
          The kusti, the sacred cord, made of seventy-two threads of lambswool, is entwined thrice around the waist, again symbolically reminding the wearer of the holy triad of good words, thoughts and deeds. The untying and retying of the kusti, accompanied by the kusti prayers, is always done facing the direction of a source of light: the sun, the moon or a lamp. Along with the sudrah, the kusti is the 'badge' of all believers, male or female, rich or poor, priest or layman.
          My own navjote was a memorable one and went down in the annals of family history. The morning of my navjote day, because of food shortages in some parts of India, the Maharashtra government decreed that with immediate effect, nobody would be allowed to feed more than twenty-five people publicly. There was panic in my house.....